Hispanic Federation Statement on the Tax Reform Legislation

Under cover of darkness and without public scrutiny or debate, the Republican majority in the United States Senate passed a tax bill this weekend that threatens to upend the lives of millions of American families. Cynically masquerading as a tax cut aimed at the American middle class, the package of tax reforms, approved along a party-line vote, is perhaps the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in decades. What’s more, the crippling deficits created by this giveaway to the richest Americans will ultimately result in deep cuts to important social safety net programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Hispanic Federation and its member agencies oppose the Republican tax plan and are deeply concerned about the ramifications of this legislation on Latino communities and families. The failure to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and address the negative impact of the federal payroll tax on low-income workers, and the surreptitious assault on the Affordable Care Act will have terrible consequences on Latino households throughout the United States.

Just as troubling is the fact that ostensibly “sensible” members of the Republican majority shamefully justified their support for the bill in exchange for, vague assurances that President Trump and Congress would strengthen subsidies for the ACA and protect Dreamers from deportation. These assurances from President Trump and congressional leaders mean nothing, especially against a backdrop of outright hostility towards the ACA and undocumented immigrants.

To add insult to injury, Republicans have allowed a provision that treats companies in territories like Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as foreign corporations, even though they're operating in U.S. soil and are employing Americans. This will levy stiff excise and other taxes on any goods and intellectual property U.S. territories produce, further obliterating the economies of these already devastated islands. Recovery will become almost impossible if this death blow is allowed to stand.

As the Tax Reform bill heads to conference, Hispanic Federation will work with its member agencies, allies, and elected officials to mount a grassroots resistance to this assault on America’s working families. After nearly a year of opposing the Trump administration’s shameful attacks on immigrants, Latinos, and the working class, we are as prepared as ever to fight for an America built on just social and economic policies.

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About Hispanic FederationThe mission of the Hispanic Federation is to empower and advance the Hispanic community. The Hispanic Federation provides grants and services to a broad network of Latino non-profit agencies serving the most vulnerable members of the Hispanic community and advocates nationally with respect to the vital issues of education, health, immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement and the environment. For more information, please visit www.hispanicfederation.org.